Ted,
>> Here's how it works. There are MANY possible
Unified Field (nice term, thank you) organizations
of software-- Unix, APL, Perl, Macintosh, Windows,
Java-- all of which propound overarching, compelling
ways to organize the whole universe of software.
ZigZag is another one.
And there is no determinate reason to choose one over
the other.
This is in the realm of religion. Which is why I hope
to do this book, "Computer Religions." <<
=========
Darn it, there you go again. Here is the message I chopped just now (it was
still in Cipboard) from my previous reply to you, because it didn't have
anything to do with "second floppies":
I just got a message from somebody, who put their finger on the Whole Point
for me (I *hade gender-vagueness, but must respect privacy). As long as
I've known you, I've never been able to put my finger on just what it is
you are about. While that is usually the best indicator that I've run
across somebody who is wide awake, it also bothers me until resolved, like
anything else worth thinking about. Not in the sense of summing you up, not
at all, I've hit it! Literacy. You have always been at the center of the
crucible where the really hot jazz is cooking.
We need a new word, please. A word denoting hearing, but also indicating
reading; maybe it's "grok", but I hope not. And it needs another word
corresponding to the actions of speaking and writing.
And we need a new way to deal with the volume, and the gain, and the
amplitude and all that. Maybe a new organ of communication. Bandwidth, we
need more bandwidth (a musical showbiz term).
I'm reminded of the word "speak", as it is used by violin makers to refer
to what a bow does to a string, and the quality of that interaction. A
transitive verb, to speak. Goes with using Listening as a noun, but that's
a kludge.
Shit, this is good. I hope this is the message board, and not just Ted
Nelson's email...
Peter
*"I hade ..." See? See that?!? It's you Nelson, you ruined my life in 1957,
before the invention of the word "psychodelic". Thank you. Are you sure you
were not born somewhere near Rocky Flats?